Heel building machines



June 9, 1959 F. c. CHOICE r-rrm. 2,889,554

HEEL BUILDING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet 1 I a i:

In ventors (Mk 0 Choice Faberf C. Quarmby By their Azzbrnc y June 9, 1959 F. c. CHOICE ETAL 2,889,554

HEEL BUILDING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18, 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 6 Sheets-Sheet s F. C. CHOICE ETAL HEEL BUILDING MACHINES June 9, 1959 Filed Dec. 18, 1957 June 9, 1959 F. c. CHOICE 'ET AL HEEL BUILDING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Dec. 18, 1957 June 9, 1959 F. c. CHOICE ET AL 2,889,554

HEEL BUILDING MACHINES Filed Dec. 18. 1957 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 F. CI CHOICE ETAL s Sheets-She et 6 Filed Dec. 18, 1957 United States Patent HEEL BUILDING MACHINES Frank Coleman Choice and Robert Charles Quarmby, Leicester, England, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N..'l., and Boston, Mass, a corporation of New Jersey Application December 18, 1957, Serial No. 703,646

Claims priority, application Great Britain January 10, 1957 6 Claims. (Cl. 1-393) This invention relates to machines for use in the manufacture of heels which are made from a plurality of leather or leatherboard lifts, for example, and more specifically to machines for assembling said lifts and nailing them together.

It has been proposed to provide an improved heel building machine of the general type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,046,443, granted July 7, 1936, on an application filed in the name of William R. Barclay et al., and provided with an improved lift positioning device such as is disclosed in British Letters Patent No. 661,319 dated May 16, 1950, and also provided with an improved single nail inserting mechanism such as disclosed in British Letters Patent No. 745,442 dated March 30, 1954. Before placing a stack of lifts in the lift positioning device or lift holder of this improved heel building machine it is necessary manually to insert a plurality of nails into passages of a nailing die from which said nails are driven upwardly into said stack of lifts, as well as to insert a single nail into the nail inserting mechanism from which a single nail is driven downwardly into the stack. The placing of a nail in the single nail inserting mechanism, and especially the placing of a plurality of nails in the nailing die, is somewhat tedious and occupies an appreciable amount of the operator's working time.

It is an object of the present invention to increase the production of the above-mentioned proposed heel building machine. With the above object in view, the hereinafter described illustrative machine is provided with nail assorting mechanism which is similar to that disclosed in an application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 632,516, filed January 4, 1957, in the name of Stephen A. Makovski et al., and is also provided with hereinafter described nail transferring mechanism which is arranged automatically to deliver a plurality of nails from the nail assorting mechanism to a loader block mounted on a slide and adapted to carry nails received from the nail assorting mechanism to passages of the nailing die which is at the front of the machine and from which the nails are driven upwardly into the stack of lifts in the lift holder which is generally similar to that disclosed in British Letters Patent No. 661,319. It is desirable that the lift engaging members or side gages of the lift holder shall normally, that is, when the machine reaches the end of its cycle and comes to rest, be spaced just far enough apart to allow the stack of lifts to be placed between them in order to locate said lifts laterally in the holder with their breasts in engagement with a breast gage of said holder. It has been found, however, that if the side gages were to remain in their lift engaging positions when the loader block is moved toward the nailing die, they would normally be engaged by said block and would therefore prevent the nails carried by the block from being delivered to the nailing die.

With the above considerations in view, the illustrative heel building machine is provided with a nailing die,

2,889,554 Patented June 9, 1959 means for delivering nails to the die, a lift holder which is positioned adjacent to said die'and comprises members, for example said side gages, adapted to be moved between open settings for permitting nails to be delivered to the die, and lift locating settings for positioning a stack of lifts with relation to the die and, in accordance with a feature of the invention, manually actuated means for moving the side gages of the holder to their open settings, and mechanism responsive to movement of the nail delivering means for moving the side gages from their open to their lift locating settings.

As a clamp, which is adapted to force the stack of lifts against the nailing die, is moved rearwardlyfrom an active position over the lift holder after nails have been driven into the stack of lifts, mechanism operatively connecting the clamp and the lift holder causes the side gages of said holder to be automatically spread apart whereby to enable the heel which has just been built to be quickly and elfectively removed from the holder and also to allow the loader block to be moved to a dumping position over the nailing die. As the loader block moves rearwardly after delivering the nails to the nailing die, a cam movable with the loader block acts upon the clamp operating mechanism in such a manner as to cause the side gages to close to positions in which the lift holder may conveniently receive and position another stack of lifts.

When the illustrative machine is at rest after a heel has been removed from the lift holder, the clamp is in a rearward inactive position away from the nailing die, nails having been delivered in the previous cycle of the machine to the loader block, and the lift holder being properly adjusted to receive and position a stack of lifts. The operator manually places a nail in the above-mentioned single nail inserting mechanism of the machine and a stack of lifts in the lift holder. The clamp is then manually pulled forwardly and moved downwardly until it forces the stack of lifts against the nailing die. The machine is then started, nails being driven into the top and bottom of the stack of lifts, and before the machine comes to rest, nails being delivered to the nailing die in readiness for the next operation of the machine.

The present invention consists in the foregoing features and in novel features hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment of the invention selected for purposes of illustration, said invention being fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 shows, partly broken away, the illustrative heel building machine in side elevation;

Fig. 2 shows, in side elevation and on a larger scale than that shown in Fig. 1, portions of the nail transferring mechanism of the illustrative machine;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly on the line Ill-411 of Fig. 2, of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front view of portions of the nail transferring mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a nail controlling shutter of the nail transferring mechanism;

Fig. 6 shows in side elevation mechanism for controlling the operation of a heel lift holder and positioning device of the illustrative machine;

Fig. 7 is a plan View of the heel lift holder and positioning device, lift engaging members or side gages of said device being shown in full lines in spread apart positions and also being shown in dash and dot lines in partially closed positions; and

Fig. 8 is a section, partly broken away, on the line VIII-VIII of Fig. 7.

The illustrative machine is generally similar to the ma- 3 chine disclosed in the above-mentioned Patent 2,046,443 and comprises a heel lift holder and positioning device which is indicated by reference numeral 2 and is generally similar to the above-mentioned device disclosed in British Letters Patent No. 661,319. The machine also comprises mechanism which is adapted to insert a single nail into the top of a stack of lifts in said lift holder and positioning device and is similar to corresponding mechanism disclosed in British Letters Patent 745,422.

In the illustrative machine nails (not shown) are supplied to a nail block or nailing die 1 (Figs. 1, 6, 7 and 8), which is arranged beneath the lift holder and positioning device 2 and corresponds to the nailing die in said Letters Patent No. 2,046,443, from nail assorting mechanism which is indicated by reference numeral 3 and is similar to the above mentioned application Serial No. 632,516 and which is driven by a motor 4. The nails are transferred from the nail assorting mechanism 3 to the nail block 1 by a transfer slide 5 which is slidingly mounted for forward and rearward movement in a bracket 7 secured to a main frame 6 of the machine. The transfer slide 5 has on its under side a row of rack teeth 8 which are in meshing engagement with a gear 9 rotatably mounted in the main frame 6. The gear 9 is frictionally rotated, first in one direction and then in an opposite direction, by mechanism similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,734,191, granted February 14, 1956 on an application filed in the name of Robert C. Quarrnby with particular reference to mechanism shown in Figs. and 16 thereof, although in the illustrative machine a shaft, corersponding to the shaft (491) disclosed in said patent and carrying the gear 9, lies horizontally across the machine instead of vertcially as disclosed in said patent.

The transfer slide 5 has secured to it a bracket 11 having in its front face a guideway 13 in which is secured a projection 15 of a loader or nail transfer block 17. The nail transfer block 17 has in it nail receiving holes or passages 18 arranged in a pattern of a desired number in accordance with the size and/or style of the heel to he built. The block 17 may be readily exchanged for one of a different arrangement and/or length of nail receiving holes or passages by releasing a screw 19 which holds shoulders 21 on the upper end of the projection 15 down against opopsing shoulders of the bracket 11.

The nail transfer block 17 has arranged beneath it a shutter or plate 23 (Figs. 2, 4, 5 and 8) which is adapted to prevent nails from passing through the passages 18 of the block until said block has been moved over the nailing die 1 with its passages in, or practically in, alinement with nail holes or passages 24 (Figs. 6, 7 and 8) in the nailing die 1. The nail transfer block 17 receives nails through nail holes or passages 26 in a foot block 25, which holes are arranged in a pattern corersponding to the nail holes or passages 18 in the block 17. The foot block is supported by a carrier 27 (Figs. 1 and 2) which is vertically adjustable on a bracket 29 secured to the main frame 6. The carrier 27 has formed on it rack teeth 31 in meshing engagement with a gear 33 secured to a shaft 35 which is rotatably mounted in the bracket 29 and has secured to it a hand wheel 37 for use in the initial vertical adjustment of the carrier 27. The foot block 25 r ceives nails supplied from the nail assorting mechanism 3 to flexible tubes 39. The nail transfer and the foot blocks 17, 25 respectively may be changed for others having a different number and/ or design of nail holes or adapted to accommodate nails of different lengths.

The shutter 23 is secured on the front end portion of a relatively short shuttle carrying slide 41 (Figs. 2, 3 and 5) extending rearward from the shutter in a guideway formed between the transfer slide 5 and the bracket 11. The slide 41 has connected to it one end of a spring 43 the other end of which is connected to the slide 5. The bracket 11 secured to the slide 5 has rotatably mounted in it a pin 45 (Figs. 2, 3 and 7) which has secured on it a latch arm 47 which is arranged to engage a notch 49 in the shutter carrying slide 41. The latch arm 47 is urged toward the notch 49 by a spring 51 opposite ends of which are connected respectively to the bracket 11 and to an arm 53 secured to the pin 45. As the transfer slide 5 approaches the end of its forward movement, the arm 53 engages an adjustable screw 55 in a lug 57 secured to the bracket 7. As the transfer slide 5 continues its forward movement the latch arm 47 is withdrawn from the notch 49 and the shuttle slide 41 and the shutter 23 are drawn rearwardly by the spring 43. The shuttle slide 41 is released from the latch arm 47 just as a stop screw 59 adjustably mounted in a bracket 61 secured on the transfer slide 5 comes into engagement with the rear end of the lug 57. As soon as the shutter or plate 23 is moved rearwardly the nails in the passages 18 of the nail transfer block 17 fall into the passages 24 of the nailing die 1.

As the transfer slide 5 is moved rearwardly the rear end of the slide 41 engages a block 63 secured to the bracket 7 and is thus prevented from further rearward movement with the slide, the spring 43 being stretched during further rearward movement of the slide. As the transfer slide 5 continues to move rearwardly the nail transfer block 17 moves over the shutter 23 and the latch arm 47 is moved by the tension spring 51, connected to the arm 53 and to the bracket 11, into engagement with the notch 49. Rearward movement of the transfer slide 5 is limited by the engagement of an adjustable screw 65 in the bracket 61 with a block 67 secured to the bracket 7.

To enable the transfer slide 5 and the block 17 to be moved forwardly without engaging the lift holder and positioning device 2, means is provided in the illustrative machine for spreading apart swivel blocks, side gages or lift engaging members 64 corresponding to the blocks or lift engaging members (29) disclosed in said British Letters Patent No. 661,319, thereby permitting the block 17 to pass between them and over the nailing die 1.

When just before the end of the cycle of operation of the machine a beam 69 corresponding to the beam (3) disclosed in British Letters Patent No. 661,319 has been swung to its most rearward position shown in Figs. 1 and 6, the lift engaging members 64 are fully open, as best shown in full lines in Fig. 7, to allow the nail transfer block 17 to be moved forwardly over the nailing die 1 to complete said cycle. When the nail transfer block 17 has been moved forwardly and has delivered nails therein to the nailing die 1 and returned to its rearward position, the lift engaging members 64 are partially closed, as hereinafter described, to their positions shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 7 so that the stack of lifts (not shown) placed in the lift positioning device by the operator will be at least substantially located laterally relativ'ely to each other and to the nailing die 1. When the beam 69 has moved forwardly over the nailing die 1, the lift positioning device is further closed to a slight extent in order to grip the stack of lifts.

A left-hand bar 71 of a pair of bars, which correspond to the bars (5) disclosed in said British Letters Patent No. 661,319 and to which the beam 69 is secured, has pivoted to it at 73 an arm 75. The hub of the arm 75 has formed on it a lug 77 provided with a face 7711 which, during a portion of the cycle of the machine, is arranged to be held by a spring 79 against the front end of a latch lever 81. The latch lever 81 is pivoted on a stud 83 which is secured in a block 85 secured to the bar 71. The arm 75 has rotatably mounted on its lower end a roll 87 which operates in a slot 89 in an arm 91 which is secured to an arm 93 fixed on a shaft 95 rotatably mounted in a bracket 97 secured to the rear end of a post 99 corresponding to the post (1) disclosed in said British Letters Patent No. 661,319. The shaft 95 corresponds to the pivot (75) in the British Patent 661,319 and also has secured to it an arm 101 corresponding to '5 the arm (71) in said patent, forward and rearward movement of said arm 101 respectively serving to open and close the lift holder and positioning device.

As above explained, the lift holder and positioning device 2 is substantially like a corresponding device disclosed in British Letters Patent No. 661,319. Secured to the post 99 is a bracket 104 provided with a housing 106 having a passage 108 (Fig. 7) in which a breast gage 110 is slidable, a thumb screw 112 being rotatably mounted in said housing and being threaded into the forward end of a shank portion of the breast gage. The forward and rearward operating position of the breast gage 110 may be varied in response to rotation of the screw 112.

Secured to the bracket 104 at its opposite lateral ends are pins 114- having pivotally mounted on them centralizing arms 116 upon which the swiveling blocks or side gages 64 are pivotally mounted. Slidingly mounted upon the centralizing arms are plungers 118 which are constantly biased into forced engagement with the swiveling blocks 64 by springs and which serve to maintain the blocks in forced engagement with screws 120 threaded respectively into said arms.

The rear ends of the centralizing arms 116 are operatively connected by links 122 to the forward ends of levers 124 fulcrumed on bearing pins 126 carried by blocks 128 which are mounted for sliding movement in a guideway 132 (Fig. 6) of the bracket 97. Formed in the blocks 128 are threaded bores 134.- which receive rightand left-hand screw threads formed at opposite end portions of a rod 136 having a knurled enlarged center portion provided with a circumferential groove 138. Mounted in a channel 140 (Fig. 7) formed in the bracket 97 is a bar 142 provided with slots 144 through which pass screws 146 respectively which serve to secure the bar to the bracket and which may be loosened preparatory to initially adjusting the bar and accordingly the levers 12d laterally of the machine. Carried by the bar 142 is a spring-pressed plunger 145:! having a V-shaped rear end adapted to engage in the circumferential groove 138 in the rod 136 for the purpose of maintaining said rod in an initially set lateral position. When the screws 146 have been slackened the bar 142 with the rod 136 and the blocks 128 may be bodily adjusted laterally by the use of screws 150 threaded into the bracket 97 whereby to centralize the centralizing arm 116 with relation to the nailing die 1. The levers 124 are operatively connected by toggle links 152 to a slide 154 which is movable forwardly and rearwardly in a guideway 156 in the bracket 97 and is operatively connected to the arm 101 by links 158. It will be apparent that the lift holder and positioning device 2 may be operatively connected to the lift engaging members 64 by mechanism such as described in British Letters Patent No. 661,319.

In the initial setting up of the machine the blocks 128 and accordingly the heel engaging members 6 1 may be centralized as a unit with relation to the nailing die 1 by the use of the screws 151 the screws 146 being thereafter tightened to secure the bar 142 to the bracket 97. The

blocks 128 may be moved equal distances toward and away from each other by rotating the rod 136 whereby to change the fulcrum points of the levers 12 1. With the above arrangement the swiveling blocks 64 may be initially adjusted to accommodate the particular work on hand.

The latch lever 81 is arranged, as will hereinafter appear and as shown in Fig. 6, to be moved out of engagement with the face We of the lug 77 on the arm 75. The rear end portion of the latch lever 81 is arranged to be engaged by the lower end of a rod 1&3 which is slidingly mounted in a bore, somewhat larger than the rod, in a bearing 105 on a bracket 107 fixed on the machine. The rod 103 has on it two springs 109, 111 of equal length and strength which engage respectively upper and lower collars 113 and the bearing 105. The upper end of the rod 103 is pivotally connected to an arm 115 which is secured on a spindle 117 rotatably mounted in a bearing block 119 secured on the bracket 7. Another arm 121 is secured on the spindle 117 and has on its upper end a cam roll 123 which is arranged to be engaged by a cam (Fig. 2) on the transfer slide 5 as it moves forwardly and rearwardly. As the transfer slide 5 is moved forwardly the cam 125 causes the rod 103 to be raised idly and then allows it to be lowered by the spring 111; the bearing 105, the springs 109, 111 and the collars 113 serving to position the rod lengthwise with relation to the cam roll 123 in a mid position. When, however, the transfer slide 5 is moved rearwardly from its forward position, the cam 125 causes the rod 103 to be moved downwardly and releases the latch lever 81 from the face 77a of the lug 77 on the arm 75. The spring 79 then swings the arm 75 in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 6) and the roll 87 causes the arm 101 to swing rearwardly and the swiveling blocks 64 of the lift positioning device to be moved to their partially closed dash line positions as will be hereinafter explained. counterclockwise movement of the arm 75 (Fig. 6) is limited by an adjustable screw 127 mounted in a lug 129 secured to the left-hand bar 71.

When the illustrative machine is at rest, after having been operated to build a heel, the beam 69 carried by the bars 71 has been swung rearwardly and the transfer slide 5 is in its rearmost position as shown in Fig. 2, having, in the previous cycle of the machine, been moved forwardly (and then rearwardly) to deliver nails to the nailing die 1. The lift holder and positioning device 2 will be partly closed as shown in dash lines (Fig. 7), this partial closing of the device having been effected by the cam 125 on the transfer slide 5 having acted, during the return movement of the slide, on the cam roll 123 and the rod 103 whereby to cause the rod 103 to be depressed and the front end of the latch lever 81 to be released from the face 77:: of the lug 77 on the arm 75. The spring 79 thereupon swings the arms 75 and 91 forwardly and the arm 101 rearwardly partially to close the lift positioning device 2.

With the parts in these positions the operator places a nail in the above-mentioned mechanism (not shown) for driving a single nail into the top of the stack of lifts and places a stack of lifts in the partially closed lift holder and positioning device 2. The operator then manually pulls the beam 69 forwardly over the lift positioning device and moves, by means of a treadle lever (Fig. 1) corresponding to the treadle lever (24) referred to in British Patent 745,442, a presser pad 131 or clamp carried by the beam down on to the stack of lifts. During the forward movement of the beam 69 the arm 75 is held against the stop screw 127 by the spring 79 and the front end portion of the latch lever 81 is held down on the top of the lug 77 by a tension spring 133 connected to the latch member and to the bar 71. During the forward movement of the beam 69, the arms 75 and 91 move with it and the arm 101 moves rearwardly with the result that the swiveling blocks or lift engaging members 64 of the lift positioning device 2 are pressed against the sides of the stack of lifts and resistance is thus offered to movement of the arm 91 and, therefore, to the roll 87. During further forward movement of the beam 6.9 the upper end of the arm 75 moves forwardly relatively to the roll 87 and allows the front end of the latch lever 81 to be moved down by the spring 133 just behind the lug 7 which is formed on said arm and into opposed relation to the face 77a of said lug. Just before the beam 69 completes its forward movement an adjustable screw in the block 35 engages the arm 75 and the roll 87 is moved forwardly with the pivot 73 thus moving the arm 75 bodily forwardly with the bar 71. This bodily movement of the arm 75 causes, through the roll 67, the arm 91 to be moved forwardly and the arm 101 rearward. The blocks 64 of the lift holder positioning device 2 are thus pressed firmly against the stack of lifts before the presser pad 131 is moved down and forced 7 against the stack of lifts, the slot 89 in the arm 91 at this time being substantially vertical. When, therefore, the beam 69 is moved downwardly the roll 87 may be moved downwardly without affecting the grip of the lift positioning device 2 on the stack of lifts.

The machine is then started by means of a hand lever (not shown) corresponding to the hand lever (160) in the above-mentioned United States Letters Patent No. 2,046,443 and a single revolution clutch is controlled thereby. During the operation of the machine, the stack of lifts is compressed and a single nail is driven into the top of said stack and a plurality of nails are driven upwardly from the passages 24 of the nailing die 1 into the bottom of the stack of lifts. After the machine is stopped the operator allows the beam 69 to be raised by springs (not shown) corresponding to the springs (48) referred to in British Patent 745,442 and then moves the beam rearwardly. As the beam 69 is moved rearwardly a rod 137 connected to the arm 91 causes a single revolution clutch, which is operatively connected to the gear 9 and through which the transfer slide is operated, as disclosed in said Patent 2,734,191, to be engaged and the transfer slide to be moved forwardly to deliver a plurality of nails to the nailing die 1 and to be returned to its rearmost position in which the nail transfer or loader block 17 automatically receives nails from the nail assorting mechanism. Before this occurs, however, the beam 69 will have been moved rearwardly far enough to cause the lift positioning device 2 to open or partially open before the transfer device moves forwardly and the operator lifts the built-up heel out of the lift positioning device.

As hereinbefore stated, the transfer slide 5 is frictionally driven forwardly and rearwardly and to prevent the slide from being jarred forwardly, when the rearward movement of the bar 71 is arrested by lugs on the main frame, and causing the nail holes in the loader block to be moved out of alinement with the holes in the foot block 25, the bracket 7 has secured on it a block 139 which has secured to it a leaf spring 141. The front end of the leaf spring 141 is shaped to fit in a notch in a block 143 secured to the transfer slide 5, the rear end portion of the block 143 being shaped to wedge under the spring 141 as the transfer slide approaches its rearmost position.

The lift holder and positioning device 2 may be defined as a lift holder positioned adjacent to the nailing die 1 and comprising a breast gage 110 and a plurality of side gages 64 which are adapted to be moved between open settings for permitting the loader block 17 to be moved to and from its nail dumping position over the nailing die,

and lift locating settings for positioning the heel lifts with relation to said die. The lift holder 2 may also be said to comprise a plurality of members adapted to be moved sequentially between lift locating settings in which a plurality of lifts are positioned on the nailing die 1, pressing settings in which said members are forced against the lifts, and open settings in which nails may be delivered to the nailing die by the loader block.

The beam 69 and mechanism associated therewith may be described as constituting manually actuated means which is movable in one direction to an active position arranged in opposed relation to the lift holder 2 to cause the side gages 64 of the lift holder to be moved to their pressing settings against the lifts and which is movable in an opposite direction to an inactive position in nonopposed relation to the lift holder to cause the side gages 64 to be moved from their pressing settings to their open settings.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a heel building machine, a nailing die, means for delivering nails to said die, a lift holder which is positioned adjacent to said die and comprises a plurality of members adapted to be moved between open settings for permitting nails to be delivered to the die and lift locating settings for positioning a plurality of lifts with relation to said die, manually actuated means for moving said members of the holder to their open settings, and mechanism responsive to movement of the nail delivering means for moving said members from their open to their heel locating settings.

2. In a heel building machine, a nailing die, a lift holder adapted to be adjusted to and from a lift locating setting in which it is engaged by a stack of lifts whereby to position said lifts with relation to said die, a loader block movable between a nail receiving position away from the nailing die and a nail delivering position adjacent to and over said die, a clamp for securing said lifts against movement, means responsive to movement of the clamp for automatically adjusting the lift holder to an open setting whereby to allow the loader block to be moved to and from its nail delivering position, and means responsive to movement of the loader block away from the nailing die for adjusting the lift positioning device from its open setting to its lift locating setting.

3. In a heel building machine, a nailing die, a lift positioning and holding device comprising a breast gage and side gages which are movable with relation to said die and to said breast gage between open settings and lift locating settings, a loader block movable between a nail receiving position away from the nailing die and a nail delivering position adjacent to and over said die, a clamp for forcing said stack of lifts against said die, means responsive to movement of said clamp for moving said side gages from their lift locating settings to their open settings whereby to allow the loader block to be moved to and from its nail delivering position, and means responsive to movement of the loader block away from the nailing die for moving the side gages to their lift locating settings.

4. In a heel building machine, a nailing die, means for delivering nails to said die, a lift holder comprising a plurality of members adapted to be moved sequentially between lift locating settings for positioning a plurality of lifts on said die, pressing settings in which said members are forced against said lifts, and open settings for permitting nails to be delivered to the die, manually actuated means which is movable in one direction for moving said members of the lift holder to their pressing settings against the lifts and is movable in an opposite direction to cause the presser members to be moved from their pressing settings to their open settings, and mechanism responsive to movement of said first-named means for automatically moving said members from their open settings to their lift locating setting.

5. In a heel building machine, a nailing die, a lift positioning and holding device comprising a breast gage and side gages which are movable sequentially with relation to said breast gage and to said die between heel locating, lift pressing and open settings, a loader block movable between a nail receiving position away from the nailing die and a nail delivering position adjacent to and over said die, a clamp for forcing a stack of lifts positioned by said device against the die, means which is responsive to movement of the clamp in one direction for moving the side gages from their lift locating settings to their pressing settings and which is movable in response to movement of the clamp in an opposite direction for moving the side gages from their pressing settings to their open settings whereby to allow the loader block to be moved to its nail delivering position, and means responsive to movement of the loader block away from the nailing die for moving the side gages from their open settings to their lift locating settings.

6. In a heel building machine, a nailing die, an adjustable lift holder adapted to position a stack of lifts on the die, a clamp movable between an active position in opposed relation to the lift holder and an inactive position in nonopposed relation to said holder, a loader block movable between a nail receiving position remote 9 from the nailing die and a nail delivering position adjacent to and over the die, means responsive to movement of the clamp from its active to its inactive position for adjusting said holder to an open setting in which it is adapted to receive the loader block, mechanism which 5 is responsive to movement of the loader block toward its nail receiving position and is adapted to cooperate with said means in the adjusting of the holder from its open setting to its lift locating setting, means responsive to movement of the clamp from its inactive to its active 10 position for causing the holder to be adjusted to a setting in which it is pressed securely against the lifts, means for forcing the clamp against an end lift of a stack of lifts and for forcing the other end lift of said stack of lifts against said nailing die whereby to compress said stack of lifts heightwise, and means for driving nails delivered to the nailing die into said lifts.

No references cited. 

